Ultra-orthodox Jewish community distraught after seven members of sect arrested by Canada’s border services

Seven members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect were arrested Wednesday by the Canada Border Services Agency over suspected immigration issues, the local children’s aid society said.

Some families in the Lev Tahor community are at the centre of an ongoing child custody case, including one family that fled to Guatemala, but it’s not clear if the arrests were in any way connected to that case.

Chatham-Kent Children’s Services co-operated with the CBSA, who arrested seven Lev Tahor members “who are believed to be in violation of Canada’s immigration policy/laws,” Stephen Doig, the children’s aid society’s executive director wrote in an email.

Members of the community told local radio station Blackburn News that those arrested are Israeli citizens and their visas had expired. They had been working with a lawyer in Toronto to be able to stay in Canada, Blackburn News reported.

The seven people arrested are known to have 28 children, Doig said. Kids in cases where both parents in a family have been detained and there is no alternate caregiver are now in care, Doig said, though he did not say how many kids were in children’s aid custody.

It’s unclear how long the children will be in care, Doig said.

Reached by telephone, a member of the community who is a teacher said through tears that he could not talk. The sound of wailing children could be heard in the background.

Children in the community’s school were “distraught,” praying, crying and screaming, Blackburn News reported.

CBSA said in a statement that a number of warrants were executed in Chatham for suspected Immigration and Refugee Protection Act violations, though it does not mention the Lev Tahor community by name.

Fourteen children in the Lev Tahor community are at the centre of an ongoing child custody case.

Eight were apprehended last month after leaving Chatham with their families ahead of a custody hearing. Six had gone to Trinidad and Tobago while two others were found in Calgary.

Six other children, who are also part of the child custody case, remain in Guatemala where they fled with their parents and another adult.